Acclaim used to be the king of video baseball games with the first few editions of their All-Star Baseball franchise, but their reign atop the field looks like it may have ended.  There are many more things to do in ASB than other baseball video games, but the lack of flashy graphics and quality gameplay make this game the choice for stat junkies and bonus feature fanatics, not for fans of quality sports games.

If you’ve ever wanted to manage your own major league team, you’ll be absolutely thrilled with the Franchise and Exhibition modes.  These two modes are insanely intricate, including such extras as minor league farm systems, winter meetings, arbitration hearings, and the Rule 5 Draft.  Starting from the first season, teams must wheel and deal off the field as well as perform well in the diamond.  There is a lot more here than your average baseball fan needs, but die-hard baseball fans should eat it up. 

Expansion mode brings two new teams into the majors.  There are several cities, team names, and ballparks to choose from, but you can’t make your own team name, uniforms, or ballparks.  That aside, expansion mode challenges GMs to build a franchise from the ground up and is very entertaining.  After selecting players from other team’s scraps, get prepared to suffer through a few losing seasons.  As seasons progress, young talent will show itself and a championship won’t be too far off. 

The batting interface is pretty much identical to last year’s version of ASB.  Successfully timing your swing while positioning the batting cursor over the pitch will result in contact.  Hit the ball with the sweet spot of the bat, a square within the batting cursor, and the bat will hit the ball harder.  Power and contact swings can be toggled on or off with B, and bunting is performed with X.  It sounds easy, but hitting the ball well off a quality starter is very difficult.  Most of the pitches have a lot of action, and everybody can throw a curveball like Mike Mussina.  It doesn’t help that the umps are incredibly pitcher friendly, giving them calls on the corner all the time.  The batting game seems unbalanced, a weakness in the game. 

Pitching is also much the same as last year’s edition.  The pitcher’s various pitches correspond to different buttons on the controller, and location is simply placed with the left thumbstick.  If you’ve played video baseball games before, this isn’t rocket science.  Most of the CPU batters are incredibly patient and have a great eye at the plate.  It’s difficult to get batters out by throwing out of the strike zone, and the CPU can smack anything that’s a strike.  Nobody is an easy out, and the sluggers are deadly.  As pitchers fatigue, the game drastically changes.  Hits start coming very easily as velocity decreases and action on breaking balls is minimized.  It’s almost impossible to send a pitcher the distance.

The gameplay has some shining moments and its share of shortcomings.  ASB has some parts of baseball not seen in other games like check swing appeals, visits to the mound as a coaching option, and shattering bats.  There are too many errors, however, and the physics could use a lot of work.

There are loads and loads of extra features in ASB that provide relief from the lengthy Franchise modes.  They do add a lot to the game, but don’t necessarily warrant jumping on the next bus to Electronics Boutique to pick it up.  A few modes besides the normal batting practice and home run derby are worth mentioning.

Pick up game is exactly what it sounds like.  Legends, All-Stars, and rookies gather together in parks such as the Sandlot, the Cornfield, or the Schoolyard to play a game.  The computer randomly selects two players from each position, and opponents take turn picking players and filling out a team.  After the teams are selected, the game plays like an exhibition game without a bench or bullpen.  It’s tons of fun to see HOFers like Mike Schmidt play along side role players like Placido Polanco. 

Situation mode pits gamers in real situations that occurred in the 2002 season, with a chance to redo history.  The situations range from Rich Aurilia facing Jose Mesa in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded to finally settling the infamous All-Star game tie from last year.  While the scenarios are fun, the do-or-die situations are a pain because the scenario takes too much time to reload after every failed attempt. 

What baseball geek would be complete without his baseball cards?  ASB 2004 holds almost 300 cards which are bought with points acquired by accomplishing tasks in games, such as simply retiring the side or blasting three home runs with one player in a single game.  Certain cards unlock special features of the game such as multimedia films, in game cheats, and special teams such as Yankee Legends or the All Speed team. 

There are over 40 bonus ballparks and a heap of legends in the game.  All the ballparks are available at the beginning, but many of the legends are only available after their teams are unlocked.  

The graphics of ASB leave a lot to be desired, especially when compared to EA’s MVP Baseball or Sega’s World Series Baseball 2K3.  The lack of color depth makes the game look like it’s running in 256-color mode, a shame for a system as powerful as the GameCube.  Some of the players are a bit tall and lanky, and the presentation of the game is a bit drab.  As disappointing as the clarity of the graphics is, the animations are excellent.  The players move very fluidly and have incredibly life-like actions. 

Listening to ASB 2004 isn’t anything amazing.  The sounds of the game are decent, and the commentary just isn’t sharp.  The announcers get some calls wrong and call borderline foul balls ‘foul’ right off the bat.  There are some corny home run calls like “Call that one sushi, because it’s a dead fish!”  That makes no sense.  The one redeeming part of the audio is the music.  The familiar theme of “The Natural” rings through the main menus, and batter intros are accompanied by licensed songs from artists such as Smashmouth and House of Pain.  Play by play can also be listened to in Spanish. 

ASB 2004 was made for baseball fans that run four or five fantasy baseball teams simultaneously, look deep into stats, and check the box scores from the Cactus League during the spring.  Baseball sim fans should take a look at other titles.

All-Star Baseball 2004 is rated E for everyone.

Gameplay: 6.5

There isn’t much improvement in the gameplay from the first edition of All-Star Baseball. 

Graphics: 6.0

The graphics would get a much lower score if the animations weren’t so darn good. 

Sound: 6.0

Aside from the music, most of the audio is a let down.  The commentary is repetitive and occasionally wrong.

Difficulty: Hard

Unless the options to are set to make the game easier, the game is a tough one.   

Concept: 9.0

There are some great features here with the Expansion and Franchise modes.  The Situation mode is a great idea for baseball games.

Multiplayer: 8.0

Playing against a human at least evens up the field a little bit.  ASB supports four players simultaneously.

Overall: 7.0

There are definitely much better baseball games available on the market, but ASB 2004, with its in-depth managerial side and historical players, is a fantasy baseball player’s dream.